Latent Gifts
by The Copper Key
Summary: Slash SSHP Tired of his friends manipulations and deceit, Harry makes a changes and discovers a latent power within himself. Secret Identities, genius powerful Harry, Elves, loads of descriptions and OOC. Evil Ron and Hermione. ADOPTED. See profile.


**Title: **_Latent Gifts_

**Author: **The Copper Key

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter

**Warnings: **SLASH, HET, sexual situations, Cursing, violence, AU, OOC, OC, lots of descriptions

**Summary:** Slash SSHP Tired of his friends manipulations and deceit, Harry makes a changes and discovers a latent power within himself

**Pairings:** Severus Snape/Harry Potter

**CHAPTER ONE**

August 1st

The boy sighed leaning further into the recliner and stretched his arms, before once again returning to his book on 'advanced potions'. The boy was beautiful, with wavy bronze colored hair that shone in the sunlight and reached just passed his shoulders, flawless honey colored skin, a nimble, effeminate build with long thin legs, slim hips, narrow shoulders and all together petite fae like appearance. The boy had luminous green eyes flecked with gold, full pink lips, a small delicate nose sprinkled with a few freckles. He had high cheekbones, a pointed chin, slim heart shaped face and a long swan-like neck. His fingers were long and thin and he had narrow feet. Dressed in his favorite light cotton pale green t-shirt and dark green cargo shorts that hung loosely on his slim hips showing off a little of his firm abdomen.

"Harry?" An elderly man called entering the room. Albus Dumbledore was a kind man, who after Harry's fifth year had secretly taken the boy in. Dumbledore leaned against the wall before asking quietly, "Have you though about the plan?" The boy looked up at him with a solemn expression on his face.

'Yes, Granddad." Harry said, a name Dumbledore had asked Harry to call him. "I believe I will follow the plan. I'll use the name Emeric Lock. Is that alright?"

"Yes, that sounds fine. Emeric Lock, first year apprentice."

After a traumatizing event involving his former friends and the ministry, Dumbledore had offered Harry the option of restarting his school years under a false identity. It wasn't well known that Lilly Evans had possessed dormant elfin blood in her veins, but it had become active in Harry expanding his life span and youth. After his second year Dumbledore had realized this and to save Harry from prejudice and questions, Dumbledore had placed an incredibly powerful glamour over Harry as his elfin blood began to take affect.

Back to the plan Harry would under a false name enter Hogwarts as Dumbledore's ward and be apprenticed to several teachers, using the excuse that he had been home schooled before coming to Hogwarts so that he maintained his need for a higher level of education. Harry Potter would disappear and only reappear when needed to defeat Voldermort. The only people to know Harry's secret identity would be Dumbledore and he.

August 30th

Severus Snape hurried towards Hogwarts' teachers' house. The previous year the dark lord had discovered his treachery and Snape had barely escaped with his life. The man was now a full time operative of the Order of Phoenix. Reaching the third floor opposite the gargoyle guarding the headmaster's office, Snape stood before a blank wall, "Mind's eye." Severus muttered. The illusion covering a long shadowy hall lit sporadically with hanging lanterns disappeared. He quickly reached the other end of the hall and faced a stone carving of the Hogwarts' crest, "Ligilimency." Severus intoned. The carving split into four parts revealing a small tunnel leading to a spacious common room.

The room with metallic red walls and soft brown borders had a towering ceiling lit by long windows at the back of the room looking over the lake. A large stone fire with two gargoyles on both side of it on both sides of the fireplace and gargoyles were light brown hanging shelves. The other wall had two arched doorways that opened to two stair cases leading up to two separate towers and in between them was the tunnel that Severus had just exited. The final wall was composed of light brown hanging shelves that only parted to an arched doorway that led into the staff meeting area. The shelves were packed with leather bound gold embossed books and intricate stone bookends. There was a set of brown leather sofas and chairs. A wood table was strategically placed in the middle of them.

Taking the right staircase Snape strode up the stairs to the fifth floor and then froze as he entered. Usually Severus was the only staff, who had a room on this floor. All the other staff had given him his privacy unintentionally filling all the other floors, but there was a new plaque on one of the three empty rooms. This plaque read 'Lock Emeric, first year Apprentice.'

"An apprentice?" Snape murmured to himself, "It's been at least a hundred years since Hogwarts had an apprentice. Why now?" Snape turned to his room and placed his hand on the door knob just as Dumbledore bustled out of the mysterious apprentice's room.

"Bye Granddad." A child-like male voice called as Albus shut the door.

Dumbledore turned to Severus and smiled, "Ah Severus. How are you my boy? Anything I can help you with?" Dumbledore asked. Severus lifted an eyebrow and looked pointedly at the Apprentice's door. "Ah, you're wondering about Emeric? Emeric is my ward, he's eleven and will an apprentice at Hogwarts."

"An apprentice at eleven? Shouldn't he be in the children's dormitories?" Snape sneered incredulously.

"Well normally that would be wise, but for Emeric, that would be a poor choice. Emeric would face a lot of prejudice for his lineage and his potential would be severely stunted."

"Prejudice? Isn't this a lot of favoritism?" Snape sneered.

"Not for Emeric's case, in fact by being here he is already suffering. Emeric is a quarter elf and has faced many unfortunate hardships before he made it into my care. He's fragile, Severus. Furthermore, his learning rate is unnatural. If he were to take the NEWTS now I would have no doubt that he would pass it with unprecedented scores, but he's still a child and to save him from political mechanics I have reopened the apprenticeship program. In a year or two, I will be accepting other students, but Emeric is the only one for now. Call it a test trail if you must. It's very important that we keep our eyes on him, many people would want to use his power not excluding Tom Riddle." Snape flinched.

"I must be going Severus, I am going to introduce him when all the teachers arrive and I'll be asking for assistance in his education." Dumbledore said walking away. Over his shoulder he said "Oh by the way, Severus, Emeric is a master of potions. Currently he's working on developing your wolf's bane into a permanent alteration. He's also looking into the biological process of werewolf transformations in order to morph a werewolf into an animagus."

With that Dumbledore left, leaving a very curious Professor behind him. Snape opened the door to his room with a sighed. It was good to be back.

Snape's domain was split into five rooms. The first room was mixture between a sitting room and a library. With light green walls, a shiny oak floor and built in oak bookcases it was a comfortable room. He had two small windows overlooking the lake. There was a stone fireplace supported by two snakes, a worn black leather couch and two reclining chairs. A small oak table covered in potion books and potion magazines. Leather bound potion, dark magic, and defense against the dark arts books filled the bookcases. Various award also took their places on the shelves. A clock hung over the fire place on the light green wall.

A door to the right lead to small dungeon like potions lab. Piles of notebooks filled many of the sterile metal shelves in the room and there was a tall steel table and stool. Cauldrons of various metals and sizes, ingredients, delicate potion utensils and equipment were carefully arranged in a large storage room with many metal shelves.

A door to the left of sitting/library room led to a comfortable bedroom decorated in dark green and silver. There was a large dark wood four poster bed with crisp white linens and a green bedspread decorated with silver snakes. White silk curtains hung around the bed. There was more bookshelves in here as well. There was a large closet, a low bedside dresser and a large dresser for more clothing. Off this room was his bathroom equipped with all the necessities.

Snape began to unpack and settle in.

Three doors down

In a set of six airy rooms, Emeric sat on the oak wood floor of his bedroom going through several potions books. Due to his now prominent genetics (Elvin genetics) Emeric tended to instinctively favor certain things. This showed in his room décor.

The first room in his housing was a flag stone airy sitting room. The floor was made of flag stones, the walls were a pale green with a stone trim. Many exotic plants blossomed around the room, which was lit by the wall of greenhouse windows. In the midst of chaotic plant life were several shelves filled with leather bound books and journals, there was low stain glass table that depicted a small pond that was spelled to move like such. This table was centered in between a worn brown leather sofa and two reclining chairs. In the corner were a tall glass table and two tall light wood stools.

A glass door on the right led to large library with maroon walls decorated with complex delicate rune like gold designs, a gold trim and cherry wood floor. There were cherry wood bookshelves filled with leather bound books and journals. There were two cherry wood tables with three cherry wood chair with red leather upholstery. Off this room was another glass door that led to a exact duplicate of Snape's potions room, of course this did not have the wear of his lab.

Back to the first room, an open doorway to the left was bedroom with dark blue walls, bronze trim and oak wood floor. There was large closet with glass doors, two bookcases, a dresser and a four poster bed with a dark blue bed spread and while linens, and white silk curtains. There was also a low window with a dark blue velvet padded window seat. And finally off that room was a bathroom with an Olympic sized curved bathtub filled with tropical fish and seaweed. On the side was a regular bath tub and shower.

Four Snakes, two magical snake with shimmering mirror like scales and eyes like mood rings, one garden snake and one cobra had free range of the rooms, along with three birds (A Toucan, a humming bird and a Cuban Tody), 2 bats (2 tiny Honduran Tent Bat) and a small puppy dog (A Welch Terrier). Of course the rooms cleaned up after Emeric's pets.

One of the magical snakes, the male named 'Merlin' was curled around his arm as he turned the pages. The snake was also inspecting the book. His counter part, 'Gwendolyn' was on Emeric's lap. The Welsh Terrier, Andre sat in front of Emeric trying to get Emeric's and the snakes' attention so they could play. Finally having enough of the dog's whining, Gwendolyn unwrapped herself from Emeric and chased after the dog. There was a sudden splash marking, the Dog's fall into the pool. Giggling Emeric got up and hurried over to his pool and scooped up the floundering puppy, scolding him and Gwendolyn all the while.

Putting the poor puppy down on solid earth, the dog shook himself getting Emeric and a very disgruntled Merlin wet. Emeric sighed as there was a knock on the door. Quickly Emeric hurried to the door, trying to reach it before Andre. Opening the door, Emeric came face to face with his old potions professor. The man opened his mouth and froze. Taking in the boy's appearance. The boy was certainly beautiful. _'He's too young.'_ Snape's mind grounded him. Thanking the little voice in his head for now. Snape finally saw the snake coiled around the boy and the puppy at his heels. "How many of those do you have?" he gestured to the puppy and snake.

The boy blinked and then said shyly "10, two bats, four snakes, one puppy, three bird." Suddenly Toby, the Cuban Tody, flew out of the room and perched on Snape's head. The man took a step back clearly uncomfortable. The boy snapped his fingers in Snape's face and the bird flew back into his room. "Sorry about that… Toby likes whatever potion you were making."

"How did you know I was making potions?" Severus asked suspiciously.

"Toby told me. I'm a beast-speaker." Emeric said shrugging forgetting his shyness, while talking about his pets.

"Boy, your granddad, is ready to introduce you. So hurry up!" Snape watched in fascination as the boy paled.

"Tell him I'll be down in three. I need to change, get Merlin off me and corner Andre." The boy said quietly. Snape nodded before walking away wondering who in hell was Merlin and Andre. The door shut behind him.

The Teacher's common room – 15 minutes earlier

"So the last thing I must speak with you all about is the apprentice I've accepted into Hogwarts." The teacher all began to speak at once about how this 'apprentice' might muck up their plans and 'is he trustworthy'. Dumbledore sighed before silencing them with a wave of his hand, "Emeric is my ward, he's completely trustworthy, but we must keep an eye on him. He's a potentially invaluable resource to the order or to any party for that matter. The main reason I accepted him is for his protection and to further his education. He's eleven, but he possesses an unnatural learning rate, which at my mistake, allowed him to progress past a seventh year level. He's a quarter elf and because of this he has experienced some incredible hardships and a lot of prejudice. He's fought tooth and nail to keep his sanity, but his past has negatively affected him, he's shy and emotionally fragile. He doesn't trust many people and it is hard to gain his trust. Now before you ask any questions, let me introduce him. Severus since he is living on your floor please you go and fetch him."

Snape sighed and left, one minute later he returned and said "He said he'll be down in three minutes and something about a Merlin and Andre."

"Merlin is one of his specially bred snakes and Andre is his Welsh terrier puppy."

"How many snakes does he have?" Professor Sprout asked nervously.

"He has four snakes, three birds, two bats and one puppy. No need to worry professor, they're all well behaved, Emeric is a beast-speaker and can speak parseltongue so he can command them all."

"Parseltongue?" They all murmured.

"Yes, he's distantly related to Salazar Slytherin and because of his Elvin blood he possesses it."

"Granddad?" someone called nervously from the staircase. Everyone looked towards the shadowy figure.

"Yes Emeric?"

"I hope no one is scared of snakes or birds… Merlin, Gwendolyn and Toby, won't let, go. They err… want to protect me."

"One moment." Dumbledore said, turning to Professor Sprout, Dumbledore asked, "Professor, do you think you can be in the same room with a snake in order to meet Emeric if only for five minutes?" Steeling herself she nodded. "Emeric, its fine, come down."

A beautiful boy dressed in a white colored dress shirt, and a black dress pants and without any shoes entered the room with a bird perched on his head holding onto his hair which was partial tied back by a black ribbon. One snake was wrapped around his neck eyeing everyone and another wrapped around his right thigh.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Emeric Lock."

The boy smile shyly and said cautiously "I'd bow, but Toby would be inclined to peck me then. Pleasure meeting you all."

"So," Dumbledore said directing the attention back to him, "If there are any volunteers to assist Emeric--"

"What are your interests?" Professor McGonagall asked interrupting Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the staff.

Emeric looked shyly at the floor before saying, "Runes, transfiguration, advanced potions, Athermancy, healing, warding, parselmagic, wand-less magic and more of the naturalistic magics that Granddad hopes to find a teacher to teach me in." He shuffled nervously as he spoke not daring to look anyone in the eyes.

"Does he have an aptitude for wand-less magic?" Professor Mimic asked thoughtfully.

Dumbledore smirked, an uncharacteristic expression on his face, "Emeric has pretty much mastered it in my book, but he's insistent that there is a higher level just out of his grasp."

"What can he do?" Professor Mimic asked.

"Well, he can perform any spell silently and wand-less that is at seventh year or below and the potential to perform higher spells is probable."

"Then what are you talking about?" Mimic asked Emeric.

"The mind elementalist and the mind pressure." Emeric said quietly.

"Well, that level hasn't been reached in nearly five hundred year, but I'm sure, though I can't do it myself, that I can guide you. Is that alright?" Mimic asked. It was a matter of professional interest in the subject and the boy's mannerism suggested that he would be a pleasant conversationalist that made Professor Mimic promise to assist the boy and go out of his way. Besides, the boy was a mystery he intended to solve.

"That would be wonderful sir. I just hope I'll meet your expectations." The boy smiled.

"I can lend you quite a number of books on Athermancy, though I can't teach you myself," Professor Vector said, "Would that be alright?" She asked. Emeric nodded.

"Like Professor Vector all I can offer is Transfiguration books." Emeric nodded and smiled gently, looking up and meeting her eyes.

"I'd be happy to assist you in Runes." Professor Babbling said. She earned a nod and a small smile. Madam Pomfrey offered to teach Emeric to heal and to Professor Binns promised to dig around and find books on Hogwarts' wards. What came as the biggest surprise was Snape's offer.

"Boy," Snape said and watched with a little guilt as Emeric flinched, "I'm interested in your work, meet me at five every Sunday and we'll work on your theories." Everyone gaped at Severus, who pointedly ignored them and strode back to his room berating himself for letting his curiosity get the better of him.

Finally Professor Sprout asked hoping that she wouldn't offend the boy, "I've heard those with Elfin blood tend to have magic that influences plants, would you mind stopping by to check on my plants?"

"It would be an honor." The boy said quietly.

"Alright, I need to speak your teachers privately, Emeric. So I will see you tomorrow and remember the that the great feast begins tomorrow in the great hall, do not miss it Emeric." The boy nodded hesitantly and walked out of the room quickly as Toby chirped at him.

**TO BE CONTINUED **

Well, I certainly hope you enjoyed Chapter one. I'm aware that is story is a bit strange, but I couldn't help myself. I am certainly enjoying writing this. It's a lot of fun. This story does not have an outline, so it will be hard to focus it, but I'll do my best.

Thanks for Reading,

-The Copper Key

_Please review! _


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